Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, November 07, 2004

I’ve noted a couple of times that the Spanish are very informal except when they have to be very formal. This is true even of funerals. There was a photo of one in Vigo this week at which one of the young female mourners was dressed in an off-the-shoulder white pullover. But at least the all-too-visible straps of her bra were appropriately black.

There is a sign in the forest behind my house that the tracks are forbidden to unauthorised vehicles. I doubt the car I saw there this morning fell into this category, especially as it was pulling a trailer with two moto-cross bikes on it. As the woods provide refuge for all sorts of car occupants – from drug addicts needing a fix to lovers needing a fire-hose – I wasn’t too surprised to see these vehicles. But I was taken aback to see two members of the Guardia Civil – also on motorbikes – sail right past them. One can take opposing views of such a dereliction of duty - The principled Anglo view that the police should enforce every law that comes out of London or Brussels, however daft. Or the more pragmatic Spanish view that this would prevent the police concentrating on the most important crimes. I tend towards the latter stance, whilst wishing that the local police would do a lot more to stop drunken young people killing themselves – and sometimes others – between 3 and 8am of a Saturday morning.

Hits to my blog scaled new heights this last week but you have all clearly gone away for the weekend again. My nose, though, is still close to the grindstone. Given its size, this is probably the best place for it.

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